OPINION
Sunday 07th of September 2008 01:39:08 AM  GMT+2 
 

 

Military incursion not a foregone conclusion

If you believe the press Turkish forces will be across the border as soon as they get the nod from the parliament… However, this is not the case. All this talk of an incursion is more to do with easing Turkish public furor over the killings of our soldiers.


Ilnur Cevik
11 October 2007

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ilnurcevik@yahoo.com

It is clear that the public pressures have forced the authorities to talk about a cross border operation into northern Iraq against PKK camps.

The Turkish public has been made to believe that a cross border operation is a magical solution to wipe out the PKK from northern Iraq and to end the violence in Turkey. Of course this is not true and Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit knows this as much as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey has to enter deep into northern Iraq and stay there for several months if it wants to prevent the terrorists from using this area to stage attacks inside Turkey. This needs huge resources and as such an operation will be have internationally complications it will push Turkey into corner with the United States and European Union…

Both the U.S. and EU have already issued warnings to Ankara in the past 24 hours not to seek such an adventure.

We feel that even if the parliament gives the authority to our forces to enter northern Iraq we do not think this will be in the form of a massive incursion…

All we are seeing now is a public affairs exercise to keep the public happy with the magical words of "cross border operation."

The Turkish public has been treated to a very strong adverse propaganda to the extent that people are now screaming for revenge.

We feel there is much Turkey can do and will do but that may not be in the form of such a military incursion. That is why the security summit talked about "legal, economic and political measures" to dislodge the PKK in northern Iraq besides talking about the cross border operations option.

Ankara has to convince the Iraqi Kurdish leadership with tangible examples that they have a lot to lose economically if they do not take serious measures to scuttle the PKK in their region. This simply does not mean they have to send their peshmerga forces to the mountains to dislodge the PKK but they can take active measures so that the PKK militants "do not feel at home" in their region.

It is no secret that there is some visible sympathy among some Kurds for the PKK and that the militants are getting encouragement of not direct support.

All this has to stop.

PKK should be isolated in their mountain hideouts which is not the case today…

We have said over an over again that the Iraqi Kurdish leaders have to make some gestures to Ankara. But this has not been the case.

The Iraqi Kurds have to do something immediately if they do not want to face the wrath of Ankara…

All Artices of Ilnur Cevik



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